The Procurement Division of Siemens Southern Africa presented its top suppliers with awards for their contributions towards partnership excellence at a special ceremony held in Johannesburg recently.

"The fact that nearly 50% more suppliers qualified for participation in the programme, compared to when the awards were first introduced last year, is an indication that our suppliers are growing in their partnership status," says Guido Coppens, head of Siemens Procurement. "Eventually only five companies made it to the top based on criteria for what we consider as best practice. This includes, amongst others, financial performance, quality, general conduct, partnership, innovation and general performance."

Coppens says that Siemens expects the same total customer relations from its suppliers as it sets for itself with its own customers. "One of our challenges is to reduce the number of suppliers from more than 1500 to a level where only a few compete for similar business, thus making us more attractive for potential revenue and partnership growth."

"Last year, Siemens acquired R9 billion in new orders locally. A considerable amount of this value can eventually end up in the order books of our local suppliers," he says. "Considering that worldwide we have more than 2 million customers who grant us with new business in excess of R600 billion, the value to our suppliers becomes even more interesting to participate on an international basis. There are no barriers for our local suppliers to become engaged in international business. In fact, we encourage this."

Coppens says that Siemens places a priority on BEE procurement and that relevant suppliers have already achieved more than 50% of the Siemens procurement wallet.

"We give all our suppliers a chance to participate in the awards programme. With the priority Siemens attaches to empowerment, we will host our first BEE top supplier awards programme towards the end of the year, in addition to our existing awards."

Coppens says that Siemens views its suppliers as integrated in its business strategy to meet its business responsibilities towards the Government's IPP initiative.

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